DF Novices, Session 33 - Entering the Titan's Hand
We gamed last night as usual. The player of Agis has unfortunately left the group; I will keep the character as an NPC, at least until the current objective is complete and the party has a chance to pick up a new cleric. The availability of Merrill's player will be intermittent as we knew, so I kept the PC at the back of the group; a staff with Reach 2 makes a reasonable support weapon from the second rank.
Session Date: Tuesday 6 June 2023
Party roster:
Doran Longbeard, dwarf knight, 128 points (PC)
Eleanor Bayley, human thief, 138 points (PC)
Eleanor Bayley, human thief, 138 points (PC)
Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 148 points (PC)
Renaud Aymon, human holy warrior, 103 points (PC)
Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 89 points (PC)
Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 89 points (PC)
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk martial artist, 65 points (PC)
Randall, human warrior, 125 points (NPC)
Agis Keylar, wood elf cleric, 135 points (NPC)
Randall, human warrior, 125 points (NPC)
Agis Keylar, wood elf cleric, 135 points (NPC)
Methra, cultist of Subgar*, unknown points (NPCs)
Ganelon, cultist of Subgar*, unknown points (NPCs)
The party slew one of the two harpies that attacked them outside the Titan's Hand; the other one flew off. Then the group resumed their discussion on how to gain entry to the inside of the Hand. The main door was locked and apparently resistant to Eleanor's attempts to pick it open. It was sturdy and the stronger members of the party were unable to immediately brute-force it either.
They considered climbing or levitation to get up to the higher door visible between the thumb and forefinger. However that plan was interrupted when that above door opened, and a skeleton emerged onto the crook of the thumb and started using the party as target practice. Luckily its shots missed, and the party quickly moved back close to the base of the hand, where it seemed the skeleton couldn't get a bead on them. They reconsidered the front door.
Doran and Ben took turns swinging axes at the door. This was having some effect, but it was clear it would take a while, as the door was tough. Next thepyromaniac wizard got his chance, and Erizax conjured a fire at the base of the door to set it alight. Although the door did not immediately catch fire, these efforts were not going unnoticed, and the PCs heard sounds from the other side. The party prepared themselves as the door soon opened.
An obesely fat zombie came out the door and attacked Renaud with its bare hands. Behind it there were more figures (these turned out to be more "average"-looking zombies, armed with axes) standing in wait. Erizax used the Shape Fire spell to move the conjured flames inside the doorway to block the other figures. It didn't take the PCs long to cut down the fat zombie, with Renaud dealing the death blow with his Holy Might. At the point of being killed, the fat zombie exploded violently. The blast injured multiple party members, although most of them were able to jump back and lessen the impact. Ben the half ogre lost half his hit points in one go from the explosion, which would have been enough to put an average human at the edge of unconsciousness. Agis cast Minor Healing on Ben, which (with the double healing benefit of his max 20 HP) put the half ogre back near full vitality.
Renaud was flagging due to fatigue, and Erizax cast Lend Energy to revitalise the holy warrior with some FP to keep him fighting effectively. The PCs rushed in through the doorway, and Erizax shaped his fire out the way, moving it ahead of the group and used that as a weapon to attack the undeads. Beyond the two zombies with axes were a couple of skeletal archers. The battle was pitched, but further injuries were minor, and the party prevailed.
After the fight, several of the PCs were injured and/or very tired; poor sleep for some of the PCs while camping the night before, and on top of that hiking to the Titan's Hand, plus two fights in quick succession, had taken its toll on their Fatigue Points. The group have agreed to barricade themselves in the room and rest up. We paused it there.
We will see next session whether the plan to rest goes uninterrupted. There are two other doors out of their current room, and an unopened chest in an alcove...
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Ganelon, cultist of Subgar*, unknown points (NPCs)
The party slew one of the two harpies that attacked them outside the Titan's Hand; the other one flew off. Then the group resumed their discussion on how to gain entry to the inside of the Hand. The main door was locked and apparently resistant to Eleanor's attempts to pick it open. It was sturdy and the stronger members of the party were unable to immediately brute-force it either.
They considered climbing or levitation to get up to the higher door visible between the thumb and forefinger. However that plan was interrupted when that above door opened, and a skeleton emerged onto the crook of the thumb and started using the party as target practice. Luckily its shots missed, and the party quickly moved back close to the base of the hand, where it seemed the skeleton couldn't get a bead on them. They reconsidered the front door.
Doran and Ben took turns swinging axes at the door. This was having some effect, but it was clear it would take a while, as the door was tough. Next the
An obesely fat zombie came out the door and attacked Renaud with its bare hands. Behind it there were more figures (these turned out to be more "average"-looking zombies, armed with axes) standing in wait. Erizax used the Shape Fire spell to move the conjured flames inside the doorway to block the other figures. It didn't take the PCs long to cut down the fat zombie, with Renaud dealing the death blow with his Holy Might. At the point of being killed, the fat zombie exploded violently. The blast injured multiple party members, although most of them were able to jump back and lessen the impact. Ben the half ogre lost half his hit points in one go from the explosion, which would have been enough to put an average human at the edge of unconsciousness. Agis cast Minor Healing on Ben, which (with the double healing benefit of his max 20 HP) put the half ogre back near full vitality.
Renaud was flagging due to fatigue, and Erizax cast Lend Energy to revitalise the holy warrior with some FP to keep him fighting effectively. The PCs rushed in through the doorway, and Erizax shaped his fire out the way, moving it ahead of the group and used that as a weapon to attack the undeads. Beyond the two zombies with axes were a couple of skeletal archers. The battle was pitched, but further injuries were minor, and the party prevailed.
After the fight, several of the PCs were injured and/or very tired; poor sleep for some of the PCs while camping the night before, and on top of that hiking to the Titan's Hand, plus two fights in quick succession, had taken its toll on their Fatigue Points. The group have agreed to barricade themselves in the room and rest up. We paused it there.
We will see next session whether the plan to rest goes uninterrupted. There are two other doors out of their current room, and an unopened chest in an alcove...
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Some screenshots below. The map is one by Dyson Logos. I use MapTool as my VTT, and it is simple enough to load images, overlay a hex grid, and add vision-blocking lines for LoS. In this case, I decided that the map scale would work best by treating each square on Dyson's original grid as equalling 5ft rather than 10ft, and I scaled the 1yd GURPS hexes accordingly. I highly recommend Dyson Logos's maps to anyone who hasn't already encountered his blog ( https://dysonlogos.blog ). I won't link the exact page for this specific map yet, as my players haven't finished exploring it.
Attacked by Harpies. End of the previous session:
Fighting the undead. This was about 9 seconds into the combat:
After the undead battle, and end of the session. The combat lasted about 13 seconds:
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* God of the Underworld: More feared than loved by the populace. Nonetheless strongly opposed to the idea of the dead walking around unbidden. This mission to deal with the undead at Titan's Hand was agreed between Renaud and Father Marcus, the priest of Subgar. The two followers came along to assist, although they are more observers than active combatants.
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